It is yet not fully understood how species in communities evolve and interact with each other to give rise to ecological structure. Understanding the underlying general principles governing communities should allow us to design, control and predict the dynamics, function and evolution of ecosystems. Currently, I’m interested in two projects: 1) finding definite, simple mathematical relationships between the concepts of robustness and evolvability in biological systems and 2) constructing and characterizing a closed ecosystem that can self-restore indefinitely. Understanding such an ecosystem may uncover the principles that govern the biosphere of Earth, which is also self-sustaining.